The sciatica describes leg pain, numbness or weakness that begins in the lower back and travels down the sciatic nerve in the leg causing sciatica pain.
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, starting in the lower back and running through the buttock and lower limb. As an example, in 2005, more than 5% of the adult population in the United States suffers from sciatica, and throughout life, a person has a 40% chance of experiencing it, but the good news is, practicing yoga stretches to relieve sciatica pain can solve the problem.
Sciatic pain (sciatica) is caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve.
Common causes of sciatica
- Vertebral disc herniation.
- Degenerative disc disease.
- Narrowing of the spine (spinal stenosis).
- Another common cause of sciatica is as a result of nerve entrapment in which a muscle in the buttock is pressing against the sciatic nerve and causes sciatica.
How to know if you have sciatica?
To find out if you have sciatica, keep the following in mind:
- Pain or discomfort anywhere along the sciatic nerve pathway: in the lower back, buttocks, back of the thigh, and / or the calf.
- Numbness: Loss of sensation. You can test this yourself with the edge of a toothpick, comparing areas of skin on one leg with the same area on the other leg.
- Paresthesia: Strange sensations including tingling, burning pricks and “pinches.”
- Weakness – An unusual lack of strength that can cause your knees to buckle when standing or can make it difficult to get up from a sitting position.
- Reduced reflexes in the Achilles tendon and knee.
- Foot drop: a condition in which you are not able to flex your ankles enough to walk on your heels.
Common places to feel sciatica are on the back of the thigh, on the back of the leg, on the outside of the calf, on the side of the foot, and on the heel.
Therefore, sciatica is the symptom and not the cause of pain and other discomfort, and often needs the attention of a medical professional.
Sciatica and Yoga
This article presents yoga exercises that you can do at home to stretch your sciatic nerve. If you are a beginner, you can also see the article on yoga for beginners.
A word of warning: if you have severe sciatica, discuss yoga with your doctor before starting it. Although yoga can be very helpful for low back pain and sciatica, it can also injure your back while doing it, so you need to be cautious.
If your doctor believes that the source of your pain is muscle spasm or tightness, then these exercises can be of great help. When doing the stretches, make sure you always stretch on both sides.
Yoga, today is practiced by more and more people around the world, and is used to stretch muscles, strengthen them and improve balance in general. The great thing about yoga is that it can be done in the comfort of your home at no cost. We hope the following video can be of use to you.
